"Thanks
for the CD that u sent, am listening right now. I really really like this.
Great melodies, and just downright beautiful music."
-Gareth Jones, IC Radio, London
"The
New Yorker Sun has many talents. Beside being a musician, he is a philosopher,
paints and used to appear as drag queen. Concerning his music, Sun seems
to like sixties soft pop and bubblegum. On the back of the cover of his
album "Inquire Within" he has named some bands he likes. Beside others
there are Harpers Bizarre, Sagittarius, Bobby Fuller Four, Left Banke
and the Beach Boys amongst his favorites. "Inquire Within" is at the same
time a kind of tribute to all above bands. One could add the Archies,
whose carefree Bubblegum shines through in the song "It's A Smiley Face
World". All in all Sun's album is a beautiful piece of sixties sunshine
pop."
- Robert
Pally, Music Scene Magazine
"A real treat
you may have missed is Sun's Inquire Within. A must for '60s soft-pop
aficionados and/or those who miss the days of bright 'n' bubbly "feel
good" music, this is squeaky clean sweetness from beginning to end, with
nary a duff track to be heard. If tunes like "It's a Smiley Face World"
and "I Didn't Have Time To Cry On Thursday" don't make you break out in
a big ol' goofy grin and sing along, then you just ain't livin'."
- John M. Borack, Amplifier Magazine
"Could this
be any happier an album? I mean, the first full song is actually entitled
"It's A Smiley Face World," and comes bearing loads of "la-la's" backed
by, at various times, kazoos and a slide whistle. Not so fast. In fact,
Inquire Within can far more accurately be summed up with the phrase, "Screw
you, life: I can be happy despite everything you've thrown at me." The
origin of the lovely "My Baby Makes Me Feel So Good" is explained in the
liner notes: "To my beautiful Monte for 18 years of companionship and
the closest I've come to experiencing eternal love in the material world
so far. After almost 11 years I finished writing (the song) just hours
before you died...it is for you." The track "Lavender Lane" is dedicated
"to everyone who watched me publicly struggle and flail through the muck
of my life." And, yet, despite whatever hardships Sun has suffered, Inquire
Within is a wonderfully produced tribute to the breezy pop of the '60's
(from the Association to the Cyrkle, even some early Bee Gees) with melodies
as cheery as any theme song ever recorded for a Sid & Marty Krofft show.
It's an unabashedly retro (if occasionally overly saccharine) experience,
and a true testament to the healing power of music." ***1/2
- William Harris, NineVolt Magazine
"I have
spent the better part of a weekend listening to "Inquire Within"
by Sun over and over. Much of the material is quite catchy and the album
is full of melodies that leave you walking away happily humming them.
My three favorites are "It's A Smiley Face World", My Baby Makes
Me Feel So Good/Nowhere" (which I consider one song because they're
joined), and "Move On". Oddly enough, rather than The Beach
Boys and The Beatles and The Free Design, names that sprung to mind when
I listened were, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, The Cyrkle, Art Garfunkel,
Bob Welch, Herman's Hermits, The Lemon Pipers, Boyce & Hart, The Banana
Splits, The Wombles, Kermit The Frog, The Millennium, The Raspberries,
and Hanson. Sun certainly has a wealth of encyclopedic musical reference
points in his work and I think anybody who knows 60's pop music will appreciate
it. It's a shame that there isn't much music out there these days of this
caliber. As the radio and current popular trends would seem to dictate,
melody is something that seems to have been forgotten all about."
- Robin
Crutchfield - Quirky Magazine
"When
was the last time you bought a CD that you played day after day, enjoying
it more and more with each listening? I recently found such a CD, entitled
"Inquire Within", released just this year by a recording artist
who goes by the name of "Sun". I play the CD almost every day
and it makes me feel like a teenager again. It is filled with great melody,
harmony, rhythm, and lyrics. The band plays well together and almost all
of the cuts have either a definite ending or a clever segue into the next
cut. There are no real fade-out endings (that feature alone gets high
marks from me). The abrupt changes of key don't really qualify as modulations
but are they ever musical! The transition from "My Baby Makes Me
Feel So Good" to "Nowhere" is brilliant.
When I first met Sun several months ago he told me that he wrote his own
music (every cut on the CD) and that he would classify it as Retro 60's/Alternative
Pop. I can hear in his CD the influence of the Beatles, the Hollies, Herman's
Hermits, the Association, the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Gary Lewis and the
Playboys, and probably another dozen groups that I haven't yet identified.
The songs are fresh and original, never an attempt to simply copy what
those groups did. Some of the cuts employ gimmicks that border on the
corny, but they all work. The album is inspirational and was obviously
created with a lot of love. You are in for a treat with this one."
- John Link, John Link Music
Newsletter
Read more reviews at these links:
By Len Rogers in Equal Pride the Newsletter of The StoneWall Society
By Gary Pig Gold in In Music We Trust
Faux Blaux Reviews From Industry Pros
“You
must taste this candy. It not only comes in a charming wrapper, it is
delicious.”
-
June Kellogg - Safe Bet Music Reviews
“The
inspirations and tributes are many, from as obvious as The Beatles and
The Beach Boys to as obscure as The Innocence and The World Of Oz. From
as lofty as Pink Floyd and David Crosby to as low as The Archies and The
Ohio Express...which some might consider the lofty! But it’s all uniquely
Sun.”
- Gordon Rebekka - CEO, Rebekka Records
“Sun,
where have you been all my life? ...Or at least since 1970? This is classic
rock even though it’s new.”
-
Jay Kraft - Melody Tune Magazine
“I
laughed, I cried, I thought, I sighed...and everything in between.”
-
Andie Cline - President, Warn Her Music Publishing
“For
all it’s retro charm this record is decidedly contemporary. Each song
is a rare gem in the treasure chest that is Sun.”
-
Jackie Jackworth - For The Pop Record Magazine
“The
songs are amazing. Sun’s voice has a warmth and naivte that stirs the
soul, even when he’s being comical. And as for the production, it’s a
rare pleasure to hear things that might be considered corny treated with
utmost care.”
-
Terry Shane - Formerly A.K.A. Productions
“The
sweetest sounding bubblegum music since the term was invented but unlike
so many others, this brand never
loses it’s flavor”
-
Kal Johnberg - The Weekly
Listener
“I
want more!!!”
-
J.D. Kane - Disc Jockey, Public Radio Broadcasting Network
“The
influences may be apparent but this is without question it’s own thing.
Sun’s brilliant, multi-facetted songwriting talents have been beautifully
served by the treatment they’ve been given. Here, from the silly to the
sorrowful ends of the spectrum there is a reverence that shows up as missing
from most pop ‘art’. I am honored to have the opportunity to enter the
temple of Inquire Within.”
-
D. W. Addison - The Music Review
“A
love letter to the late 60’s, and so much more.”
-
Karrianne Austin-Jasper - The Fan Mailer
“This
album is one big ‘happy sandwich’. Like a musical Dagwood sandwich prepared
by a gourmet chef with all the ingredients placed in just the right spots
from the freshly baked ‘happy bread’ to the placement of the sigh-filled
condiments and each slice of introspective meat to dazzle the taste buds
in your ears. This will be the main course on my menu for a while!”
-
Ben Lyon - Sound Wave Magazine
“Sun
is SO real. He’s emulated an era down to the lengths of the songs and
brought that era into the 21st century with esteem and aplomb.”
-
Casey Person - Full Volume Studios
“My
ears had an orgasm.”
- Butch Daighswell - Son Of Boris / Spin Girl Records
Comments
From People Who Worked On Inquire Within
“Ear candy.”
- Bill Dobrow
“This reminds me of my favorite Beatles era.”
- Ron Tooley on “It’s A Smiley Face World”
“This is so deep”
- Dan Wise regarding the Ba-ba’s and the jingle bells
“This is a really cool song.”
- Libby Johnson on “Move On”
“This is a great song.”
- Stacey Shames on “Lavender Lane”
“Lisa and Cenovia had nothing to say about “Puppet Master”...of course they weren’t there
for the la-la’s.”
- Sun
“Jimmy Webb would be proud.”
- Gary Rindfuss
“Tony Visconti would love this!”
- Bill Dobrow
“This isn’t kitsch, it’s real.”
- Paul Angeli
“This song deserves it’s own ride at Disney World!”
- Paul Angeli after hearing “Lavender Lane” for the first time
“If Fonzie had been legit he’d’ve been behind bars.”
- Gary Rindfuss
“I don’t think I’ve ever worked with an artist who revealed himself as much as this.”
- Dan Wise on “If Love Has Ever Passed Me By”
"I
loved it so much I bought three copies!"
- Greg Kanczes
